According to media reports, the telecom ministry has received an advance of around Rs 17,876 crore from Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, Adani Data Networks and Vodafone Idea for the spectrum they won in a recent auction.

While all telecom operators have opted for instalments over 20 years, Bharti Airtel paid Rs 8,312.4 crore, equivalent to 4 instalments per year.

Reliance Jio paid Rs 7,864.78 crore, Vodafone Idea paid Rs 1,679.98 crore, and Adani Data Networks paid Rs 1,894 crore. “DoT has received payments of about Rs 17,876 crore in total. Only Bharti Airtel has paid four annual instalments in one lump sum,” an official said.

The country’s largest-ever telecom spectrum auction hit an all-time high with bids of Rs 1.5 lakh crore, with Mukesh Ambani’s Jio monopolising nearly half of the airwave auction with a bid of Rs 87,946.93 crore. India’s richest group, Gautam Adani, bought a 400 MHz band not used for public telephone service for Rs 211.86 crore.

Telecom tycoon Sunil Bharti Mittal’s Bharti Airtel won the bid for Rs 43,039.63 crore, while Vodafone Idea Ltd bought the spectrum for Rs 18,786.25 crore.